What's an acceptable number? I was offered 85K and I think it's a bit low. The job would be mostly general liability. Good firm culture, apparently no specific billing requirement but was told average for associates is roughly 2200/year. Am worried about that number (current firm is 2000 and I'm struggling to meet that).

How many years experience do you have and are you bringing any revenue streams? For my region, 85 is not bad for ID for or less years for decent firms. I know of ID firms that offer 45 to start and are paying less than 70k after 5 years.

I have no basis to judge in NYC and my region's cost of living is substantially less than NYC.

I know someone with the same amount of experience and accepted a position at an id firm that does business in ny/nj metro area. He accepted a salary of $110k. I would say anything with 6 digits would be reasonable.

It'd be nice if it was. Unfortunately, the nature of the industry obstructs the release of such information. Most law firms are small enough that current employees fear they can be identified by their employer if they publicly post their salary information. I'm surprised more former employees don't disseminate that data, but I suppose many don't want to risk burning bridges simply to give others an idea of the pay range.

Your best bet is develop a close enough friendship with attorneys at several area firms that you can discuss pay. There are ways to bring it up without awkwardly asking the attorney to disclose his or her own salary. Ask their opinion on the going rate. That opinion will likely factor in their own salary along with information they've obtained from others.

In the end, the area rates are often trivial. At this stage in your career, the bargaining strength of the parties will play a significant role in the tug of war that results in your offer. If you're valuable and the firm needs you, you may come out with a bigger number. If you're just another warm body with a JD in a firm that is used to turn over, you will likely receive a smaller number.

Many of these firms have about 30, 40, 50, 60 attorneys. Nobody would be "found out" if they anonymously released their salary, and they could do it after leaving the firm anyway, since so many job hop after a couple years. Would really help to have this data public. I know Wilson Elser is roughly 80K for a couple years in.

Wilson Elser pays more than 80K in NYC. Starting rate back in 2013 was $92K for GL and about $ 96K for other practice groups. Of course, you work like a dog for them since 2200 is the min you need to bill just to keep your job. On average, if you want to qualify for the bonus $$, you need to be at around 2600-2800/year. Thats a lot of weekends!!

I interviewed at Wilson Elser a couple years ago for GL in the city, and I was told the starting salary was 80K, and I had a couple years experience. I was also told the billable hours requirement was more like 2100 hours. Certainly, nobody mentioned anything like 2600+ hours for a bonus.

The cost of living is probably 3-4X that of flyover country. After four years I wouldn't take less than $150k. Why bother? Rent is what? $3-4000/month. Plus city and state taxes. Restaurants and eating out always is $100/day.